Time for Another Road Trip

Had a good endurance weekend with 8 hilly miles Saturday and 9 flat miles Sunday. I forced myself to keep it slow Sunday with the heart rate monitor, but, boy that is irritating! I am just not used to going over 9 minute pace - I just want to go faster!

Monday was gym day. I arrived and found all the equipment had been pulled and replaced with new ones. Which is nice, but I had a set routine circuit, and now I had to come up with a new one. So I was wandering around lost for a while. Tried some new tricks. I guess it will be good to work some new muscles. I also spent 15 minutes on the stairmaster.

Tuesday I rested, and Wednesday is now interval day!

Coach had us working on pace. After the warmups he said to do 1600 at 10K pace minus 15 seconds, with the goal to nail the pace and stay on it. So I picked 6:45 as my goal and set out. It was a nice hard pace, but not killing me, so it was fun. Ran negative split laps as usual and nailed it perfectly, 6:45.

Had a good group of us at close to the same pace, so we ran together and that helped. So much more fun than just doing these alone against the clock.

2 lap recovery, and then he said do it again. So I did, with a little faster 2nd half, 6:38.

2 lap recovery, and then he said do it again. So I did, 6:39.

2 lap recovery, and then he said do it again. So I did, 6:42.

And that was it. So 4x1 @ 6:41 avg and I had some left in the tank, although I was good and tired! Totaled 8.2 miles. Now I have 3 days to taper before my next race!

Tomorrow I drive up the coast to Santa Cruz for the 2nd annual meetup with MedievalistRunningInCircles (or Vanessa) as she does her summer program at UC Santa Cruz. Long time readers may recall last year when several of us stayed at Alice's Loop mansion and did the San Francisco Marathon/Half Marathon/5k. This year the mansion was booked, so I will be bunking in a dorm room supplied by V. Alice is also coming and we plan to meet up with John Wayne at some point.

V will take me on another easy trail run in Santa Cruz Friday evening when I arrive so I can eat up the great scenery. Saturday we are going to tour Stanford and meet up with the others. And Sunday is the Wharf to Wharf 6 Mile race, along the ocean. It is a huge local race, with 15,000 people, and it sells out months in advance. It is like a big party, so I am hoping to get out in front of the numerous walkers/strollers/carousers. Luckily they implemented corrals this year, so I sent my goal time in (42 min) and they put me in the "Elite" corral! Ha Ha! I believe it will be the largest "elite" corral ever. V will clearly beat me (shooting for sub 40) but I am going to aim for 7 minute pace and see what I can do. Sub 43 would be great too. Sub 42 seems a bit of a stretch. In any case, it is a huge party afterward!

Looking forward to seeing you! Too bad I can't race with you guys! That race sold out before I could pull the trigger on it! Having two kids and a big extended family make it difficult to schedule things too early in advance!

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